Everyone’s heard the phrase “snake in the grass” at one point or another, but there’s more lurking in those seemingly innocent stalks of green than a metaphorical reptile.

Ergot alkaloids are chemicals produced by fungi that live in grasses found in most lawns and pastures, and they can really do a number on livestock. They can hurt weight gain and fertility – two of the most desired outcomes in animal agriculture.

A West Virginia University researcher has been studying these ergot alkaloids and the fungi for over a decade, devising ways to minimize their negative effects without hampering their benefits to host grasses.

“Ergot alkaloids can be beneficial to plants,” said Dan Panaccione, Davis-Michael Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences. “They can help plants by discouraging feeding by insects and mammals.”

It’s that last defense mechanism that can pose a problem for livestock producers who rely on grasses as a significant component of their herds’ diet.

“These chemicals can cause poor weight gain, impair the animals’ ability to reproduce, make them more subject to heat stress, and even cause circulatory problems,” Panaccione said.

He’s studied the fungi that produce ergot alkaloids at the genetic level. Now, with the support of a $500,000 grant from the USDA, he’s taking that knowledge base to the next level.

“This grant will support our efforts to eliminate some of the genes of the fungi that live in the grasses and hopefully change the spectrum of ergot alkaloids that they create,” Panaccione said.

For the rest of the story, please visit WVU Today.

A group of West Virginia University students recently competed in the Professional Landcare Network Student Career Days event in Manhattan, Kan.

Hosted by Kansas State University, the three-day competition gives collegiate students pursuing majors like horticulture, landscape architecture and agribusiness management and rural development the chance to compete in events directly related to the skills necessary for careers in the green industry.

This year’s contest featured 700 students from 63 colleges and universities across the country.

According to David Davis, visiting assistant professor of horticulture in the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, students benefit from participating in events like this in a variety of ways.

“This is a great networking event for students,” he said. “Not only are they able to interact with their peers, but they have the chance to meet with industry representatives during the career fair.”

Sean Walters, a junior agribusiness management and rural development major from Hagerstown, Md., agrees, saying the PLANET event is “incomparable to most other opportunities.”

“It’s really the premier networking and recruitment event in the green industry where students can find real jobs and internships,” he said. “We are also able to compete in events that are directly related to our field that we may not be able to do in the normal school environment; it’s truly an out of class learning experience.”

WVU was represented by 18 students who competed in 28 events. The team finished 25th overall, the highest in the six years WVU has competed.

Students who placed the highest in individual events are: Patrick Lydon, a landscape architecture major from Bethel Park, Pa., third place in interior landscape design; Walters, eighth place in construction cost estimating; John Wagers, a horticulture student from Fairfield, Ohio, ninth place in sales presentation; Kevin Wesley, a horticulture student from Martinsburg, W.Va., 12th place in leadership skills; Ji Choi, a landscape architecture major from Glen Burnie, Md., 14th place in wood landscape plants; Lydon and Peter Boucher, a horticulture student from Robbinsville, N.J, 18th place in irrigation assembly; and Walters and Sam Lewis, a landscape architecture major from Enka, N.C., 21st place in wood construction.

Next year’s event will be held in Auburn, Ala., and hosted by Auburn University.

For more information on Student Career Days, visit http://www.studentcareerdays.org/.

Sven Verlinden, associate professor of horticulture, will take part in an important student-centered initiative:

A record number of West Virginia University faculty will participate in the fourth year of an initiative to help students improve their research skills and become more discerning when searching for and using information.

The Information Literacy Course Enhancement Program is a collaborative endeavor between the WVU Libraries and the Provost’s Office. The initiative focuses on fulfilling the University’s 2020 Strategic Plan for the Future, which calls for “engaging undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in a challenging academic environment.” Information literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, and effectively use information.

“As you hear from faculty and student participants, it is clear that the Course Enhancement Program has helped students to become better researchers and to gain more from the classroom experience,” said Myra N. Lowe, interim dean of Libraries. “I’m pleased with what has been accomplished thus far, and I’m excited that we’ve been able to increase the number of collaborations to 10 this year.”

Please visit WVU Today for more information.

The West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design will be proud to welcome Joel Newman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Feed Industry Association, as our Commencement speaker at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, May 13, in the WVU Coliseum.

Joel was elected AFIA president in July 2004 and officially assumed his post in January 2005. He is only the seventh president in the association’s 101-year history. Joel’s prior AFIA affiliation included serving as chairman of the board and four terms as a director.

Joel has over three decades of diverse agribusiness career experience. He has served in several positions, from sales to CEO leadership, in various agri-business segments, including retail, petroleum, food processing, agronomy and commercial feed.

Joel completed his Bachelors degree in Animal Science at WVU and his MBA in Finance at Syracuse University. He is a director of the International Feed Industry Federation, headquartered in the United Kingdom, is an appointed member of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture’s Agriculture Technical Advisory Committee and serves on the U.S. Delegation for Codex Alimentarius, which establishes global food safety and trade standards. He also recently served on the President’s Food Safety Initiative. In 2009, Joel led the establishment of an industry foundation, IFEEDER, to fund future education and research priorities of the industry, and serves as President of the foundation.

Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, AFIA is the only national trade association devoted exclusively to representing the interests of the animal feed industry and its suppliers. Membership includes feed and pet food manufacturers, ingredient manufacturers and suppliers, equipment manufacturers, and companies that supply goods and services to those agricultural sectors. AFIA’s over 500 corporate members manufacture 75 percent of the nation’s primary commercial feed.

For a full list of this year’s Commencement speakers, please visit WVU Today.

The West Virginia University Davis College recently hosted a lecture, “Educating the Nation: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Land-Grant Colleges,” by Aaron Sheehan-Dean, Eberly Family Professor of Civil War Studies at WVU. The lecture was part of the University’s ongoing celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Land-Grant Act.

Click the links below to download audio from the lecture:

• Part 1: The legislative history of the Morrill Act. Click here to download .

• Part 2: The socioeconomic context of the legislation and the needs it was designed to address. Click here to download .

• Part 3: A question-and-answer session following the lecture. Click here to download .

WDTV’s Fallon Pierson talks to Davis-Michael Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences Dan Panaccione about morels:

Click here for the full story.

Writing for The Daily Athenaeum, Jessica Lear reports on a discussion of farmland protection sponsored by the Davis College’s Plant and Soil Sciences Club:

“Every state has been losing agricultural land,” said Kathryn Payne, president of the Plant and Soil Sciences Club and a senior soil science student. “It is important to preserve farmland to enhance the national economy and food security, protect the environment and wildlife and protect the quality of life by building strong communities.”

Payne said she believes farmland protection is especially important because nearly 17 percent of Americans are employed by the agricultural industry, which produces about 1 trillion dollars of the national economy.

Click here for the full story.

Writing for The Daily Athenaeum, Joann Snoderly covers Eberly Family Professor of Civil War Studies Aaron Sheehan-Dean’s presentation on the origins and evolution of the land-grant colleges:

The Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Land Grant Act by hosting a lecture highlighting the importance of land-grant colleges in the 21st century.

The lecture, titled “Educating the Nation: 150 Years of Land-Grant Colleges,” was given by Aaron Sheehan-Dean, Eberly Family Professor of Civil War Studies at West Virginia University.

The lecture gave attendants a broader understanding of the history of land-grant colleges across the United States, including WVU.

The Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 was named for its sponsor, Rep. Justin Morrill of Vermont. It was created to supplement existing higher education curriculums with practical skills like agricultural science and engineering. These skills proved useful in growing the nation’s economy, Sheehan-Dean said.

“Morrill knew that paving roads, digging canals and laying railroad track required more than just monetary capital. It required people trained in the arts and sciences necessary to its development,” Sheehan-Dean said.

For the full story, visit The Daily Athenaeum.

Via WVU Today:

Although it may be common knowledge that land-grant universities around the country were established under The Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, there may still be some with unanswered questions– Why were these institutions established? What problems were they designed to address? How was the Land-Grant College Act connected to the national trauma of the Civil War?

Aaron Sheehan-Dean, Eberly Family Professor of Civil War Studies at West Virginia University, hopes to answer those questions and explore the social history of land-grant colleges in the United States when he presents “Educating the Nation: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Land Grant Colleges” at 7 p.m. Wed., April 18, in 1001 Agricultural Sciences Building.

Sponsored by the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, WVU’s oldest academic unit, the lecture is part of the University’s ongoing celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Land-Grant Act.

“It is important and significant that the Davis College is sponsoring this lecture and encouraging the university community to attend since WVU was initially established by the Morrill Act as an agricultural college,” said Rudolph P. Almasy, interim dean of the Davis College.

For the full story, visit WVU Today.